Building a Heart: The Tale of Machine and Man
by Doshlover234
Summary: Mike's job really has taken a awful turn, with the anamatronics stalking him and finally getting "hidden" in a metal suit, how will the under-qualified engineer prevent his own death at the hands of some very depressed robots?
1. Machines and Men

Mike had gotten fed up with this new job he got. Sure, it paid well enough since he had to do much of the overnight maintenance, but this was getting spooky. It started with a couple of odd noises here and there, then some small machine tried to assault him with only a metal covering full of holes as a shield. Now look at him, he was being held hostage in a metal suit by one of the other characters, Circus Baby, as she was called. She was talking to Mike, who couldn't see her due to the thick blackness that surrounded him within the suit. Her voice had an eerie quality, but she claimed to not want to hurt him, and her tone was rather soothing to listen to.

"You're in the scooping room. Do you know why they call it the scooping room?"

Mike thought to himself why should he care? He hasn't been told to use it yet, so it was none of his concern.

"It's where they use the scooper, dummy! I thought that was obvious..."

Mike spoke aloud in his low but smooth voice, "Insulting people doesn't make them want to listen to you, you know?"

Mike's eyes widened. Did he just say that out loud? He started to shake uncontrollably with fear, worrying that he may have just angered his captor, who was being strangely silent. After a short pause, her voice returned with a rather unexpected response.

"Please stop shaking, I already told you I'm not going to hurt you."

Mike breathed a sigh of relief and his shivering gradually dissipated. Baby continued to speak.

"I'm surprised, usually people don't talk to me when I speak to them. You must be brave, or maybe crazy, hmm?"

To Mike's surprise, the faceplates surrounding his head snapped away. Baby then came from behind him to his face, her metal cheeks reflecting the bright green glow from her eyes as she inspected the man.

"It's been...a very long time since I've had someone see me be 'me'. It's a nice feeling, not having to pretend for once."

Mike's hearing became acutely aware of the clicking around the sides of his head, and could make out some springs slowly coming undone around the faceplates. He pulled an arm out of the suit's arm, and became to tighten the springs back into place, not wanting to have a malfunctioning suit crush him. Baby's cold hand reached out and gently touched his cheek. She ran a finger down the side of his face.

"Will you help us, mister? My friends and I...we've been trapped here for an eternity. We can't take it anymore. If we run, they'll just bring us back here, since we look like this."

Mike thought for a moment before replying. "What's so bad about this place? Well, besides the controlled shocks they use."

Baby's tone changed into one that mimicked a sorrowful one, like she was about to cry if she could.

"We want to see things outside of this place. They lock us up in the dark when we're not working, they keep trying to 'fix' us, when all we need is some freedom."

Mike continued to frantically tighten the springlocks while processing what she had just said. Mike then had an idea. It might get him fired, but if it kept him alive, made the anamatronics happy, and the managers think they were fixed, it might be the smartest plan he had ever come up with.

"Hey, if you get me out of this suit, I had an idea. I can take you all up in the elevator and we can get you guys some things if you want. I'd have to bring you guys back afterwards, but we can do it when I'm working every night, okay?"

Baby's face seemed to light up, more than it already was with her eyes illuminating her face.

"Really!? You'd do that for us? Hang on just a sec, sweetie."

Mike raised an eyebrow at her calling him sweetie, but if it got him out of this deathtrap he'd take it. The suit popped open and he threw himself out of it. Mike breathed in a deep breath, but it was crushed out of him instantly by the arms of Baby, who had thrown herself around the poor man. Her voice box was making soft sobbing sounds as she spoke.

"Thank you so much, you're so kind to do this for us. Uhh, what's your name, by the way?"

"Mike is my name, now can you let go of me, you're crushing my lungs." Mike sputtered out his words. Baby released him and apologized for that. She then told Mike to wait by the elevator while she got the others, since they might "do something bad to you."

After a time, Baby returned with the others. Unlike her however, they didn't speak to him, still resentful of how this place had treated them. All five of them climbed into the elevator and went up to the ground floor, where all the robotic characters burst through the doors and looked around at the night sky and the dazzling lights adorning the downtown buildings. Baby turned her head towards Mike and pulled back her faceplates to expose some of her endoskeleton. The interior mouth however had curled into a smile, which oddly gave Mike a burst of pride in himself, even if she wasn't human, it appeared that they were much happier. Mike took them to the various places that were open at this hour, a convenience store to get some snacks, a karaoke bar that the anamatronics took to rather quickly, and even a small bookstore. All the characters had bought one or two books, using Mike's money of course, to bring back with them to read on the weekends when the store was closed for two days straight. When they returned, it was far past Mike's shift, so he waved goodbye to the group before hitting the button to go back up top. Before the doors closed however, Baby's voice crept into his ears again, saying, "I really enjoyed tonight Mikey, maybe you should come visit us more often, hmm?"


	2. Trust Issues

After that night, Mike began to take the group out on a nightly basis. At first, people would crowd around the robotic entertainers, but after a while the crowds died down as they began regular visitors to the nightlife of the town. His employers did eventually find out about him breaking company policy by taking them out of their rooms at night, but they informed him they'd look the other way as long as the anamatronics were in working condition during the daytime.

That became Mike's new nightly routine. He was surprised at how much of a turn his job took from what was originally in the description, but he couldn't complain much. Over time the rest of the group all began to open up to him. First was Freddy, who insisted on showing Mike how to throw his voice like him, with little success. After him was Foxy, who started to show that she was much more of a dancer then an actor, what with her showing off when they stopped by a nightclub at the end of the week. Ballora was last, being a timid soul behind that calm, smiling shell. She talked in a whisper, and would often give Mike morsels of their day lives as the rest of the group were off doing whatever it was they did. Mike enjoyed listening to her stories about the gang, since he wasn't a party animal either. On Fridays all four of them would express how much they were looking forward to next week. Even with the various means of entertainment, ranging from books to hand-held consoles, they still enjoyed the trips out as a group. You might think of them as friends even, if a man can actually befriend machines in your mind of course.

One night though, the mechanical creatures all began to act unusual. Foxy and Freddy were both talking to each other exclusively the entire night, Ballora seemed to be avoiding some topics, mostly about how odd the others were acting. Baby however was the worst offender. She was giggling incessantly and was clinging rather hard to Mike. Not physically, but if she wasn't afraid that she might crush Mike she may have just grabbed his arm right then. Mike, for obvious reasons, was both perplexed and somewhat worried. Even if he has been having a good time with them for the last month now, he was still always on edge around them, the rumors about their business firmly rooted in his mind. He worried and pondered for quite some time, before suggesting one Thursday night that they should return early. The robots all gave their synthesized groans of exasperation, but after some convincing on Mike's part, using some bribing to sway their opinion, he got them all to come with him back to the underground tunnels they called home.

When they arrived, Mike confronted them on their strange behavior recently, after working up the nerve the entire trip back. The anamatronics all looked to each other with their best imitation of smiles on their faces, and Baby giggled once more as she looked at her friends, then back to Mike. Mike had broken into a cold sweat from being so nervous about this idea of his.

"What if they attack me?"

"Maybe they killed somebody while I wasn't looking."

Thoughts like these pounded in Mike's mind as he waited for a response. A bead of sweat ran off his eyebrows and dropped to the floor. Finally, Baby broke the silence with her hands behind her back.

"Mikey, you know what they said about curiosity and the cat, don't you?"

Mike gulped hard at that, believing his fears to be realized. He prepared to turn and run back to the elevator when Baby brought her hands back from behind her. She held out to him a tiny charm braclet, featuring a rabbit, a fox, a bear, some musical notes, and an ice cream cone on the string.

"We were going to surprise you with it tomorrow, but it can't be helped now."

Her faceplates retracted for a moment as she giggled again. While unnerving to Mike, this was a small problem she had when she was really happy about something.

"I guess since we're here now, we'll just head back to our stages, alright Mike?" Freddy said. Mike responded with a stuttered agreement as Freddy ushered in the rest of the gang, each giving Mike a woeful wave as they passed by into the darkened stage rooms. Mike took a quick run through the control rooms to make sure they were all there before heading back up through the elevator. He went outside and back around to the side lot where he parked his car every night, cranked the engine, and began to drive down the streets towards his apartment. He turned on the radio to a late-night talk show to calm his shaken nerves as he drove. It wouldn't do him any good to try and sleep in his current state, after all. The drive was peaceful though, the drone of the host on the radio, the hum of the car engine as Mike's heartbeat slowed down to normal. You can imagine his surprise when suddenly a cold, hard rod slowly touched his right cheek. The ever-so-familiar sound of a voice module spoke up over the talk show in a hushed, calm tone.

"You know Mikey, not trusting your friends is bad for a relationship. I think we should work on that tonight, don't you?"


	3. Sleepless Night

**I thought the second chapter was awfully short, so have the third chapter to make up for it. Enjoy.**

Mike had to force himself to not slam down on the brakes when she said that. His heart pounded against his sternum like it was trying to get away from her, his head went fuzzy, and suddenly he snapped angrily at her.

"Do you know just how much you scared me just then!? How did you get in my car?"

Baby gave a huff and replied, "Hey, not my fault you're such a scaredy cat~. I just came to keep you company tonight. As for how I got here, you should listen to the overhead vents more. They're just big enough for a certain someone to crawl through."

"Do you know how much trouble I'll be in if you aren't there in the morning? I'll get fired for stealing company assets!"

"How can you steal something that walked itself into your car, Mikey?"

"They'll never believe that story. You should know that."

"If they don't, we'll all start 'breaking down' again. They'll have to keep you hired, so don't worry about a thing."

Mike figured that she had a point, and at that he sighed before saying "Alright, you can stay tonight, but ONLY tonight. Okay?"

Baby, by nature of being the most physical of the group, gave him a firm hug from behind.

"I knew I could break you down."

Mike groaned as he turned his attention back to the task of driving. He had no idea what the giggle-bot had in mind, but he was certain it wasn't going to be letting him sleep like he originally planned. He decided to make his coffee black tonight, since he'd need all the energy he could get to deal with this one.

Mike unlocked the door to his apartment and swung open the door. He stepped inside and was eagerly followed by Baby, who took to oooing and ahhing at all the trinkets Mike kept around his place, including the decorative plates on the wall rack. A hand slid across Mike's face. Since Baby's footsteps are so loud, several of the other tenets opened their doors to see him walking down the hall with a robot following behind like a puppy. It made him feel exposed and abnormal, he didn't like having all this attention thrown on him. Baby's voice forced itself into his thoughts once more, with her innocent tone and child-like giggling fits.

"Well Mikey, what are we doing tonight, hmm? Watch a movie? Play a board game maybe?"

Mike scratched his chin before answering.

"Well, I didn't plan on anything actually. I usually go right to bed after work."

"Ooh, I get it. You want to cuddle on the couch until you fall asleep, right?"

Mike could feel his face flush at that. Even though she was a machine, that was still quite a bold statement for somebody to say. Mike pretended to ignore her statement and shuffled to his coffee maker. He loaded it with hot water and the ground coffee to strain into his favorite cup, a blue and white cup with cozy shapes being formed by black dots like stars in the night sky. As he hits the big, glowing green button labeled "brew" and the machines hums into action, his shoulders are gripped by two large hands, whos fingers start to move up and down like a person would to massage your shoulders.

"Hey, you never answered my question, Mikey." She giggles before continuing "Did I embarrass you~?"

Mike stammers to defend himself

"No! That was just a very...out of the blue thing to say is all."

Baby's eyes half-shut and she stares at his head. Mike could somehow feel her glare on the back of his neck, although that might just be the heat from the lights that are behind her eyes. Mike jerked himself away from her grasp, which was easier than he anticipated in all honesty. She likely wasn't grasping very hard to avoid hurting him. He informs her that he's going to take a shower to get rid of the odor. Baby simply nods her head and gives their rather unique impersonation of a smile. Mike stomped off towards his bathroom, leaving Baby alone in the living room.

Mike ran a hand through his brown hair, weighted down on his head by the showerhead's torrent. As he went through the automatic motions of cleaning his body, his mind jumped from place to place, reeling at this situation. At first, he couldn't stop trying to think of plans to get her to go back to the company building, but those plans lead him to her words about not trusting them. After all, friends don't mind friends staying over a night, do they? He pondered this for a moment before settling down on their most recent exchange. It dawned on him that she was likely just teasing him, and that his behavior was very rude. He understood that unless he apologized to Baby, he might wake up on the wrong side of the bed tomorrow. His mind racing with anxiety, his sped up his motions. He had to do this ASAP, or she might start holding a grudge or even try to kill him while he was in the shower. He put his clothes back on as quickly as possible after exiting the shower and tore out of the bathroom. He practically leapt to the living room, to simply find it empty with the television on. He began to panic, when he was suddenly wrapped up in a soft blanket from his closet, something he kept for the winter as an extra layer on his tiny bed. He jumped in his skin and turned his head to see Baby's face staring into his eyes. Something seems to suggest she was upset to him, but he couldn't consciously describe what it was.

Baby spoke up first. "I'm sorry for scaring you, I just wanted to give you a nice surprise is all."

Mike didn't say anything, but his face more than clearly showed his panic to Baby, which prompted her to continue.

"I don't want you to be afraid of us. Of me, Mike. You're the best thing to happen to all of us, and we want you to share in that joy we have, thanks to you."

Her voice began to sob as she spoke her next words.

"I thought I could make you more comfortable if I came with you to your own home, but I guess I'm just being a bother, huh?"

Mike was conflicted. On one hand, his original motive was to prevent himself from getting murdered in any number of ways these machines could think of. He didn't have any feelings towards them, at first at least. Baby actually seems to really care about him though, she was trying to get him to cheer up and enjoy himself in her presence, but his paranoia set up a blockade to his mind to get this information to sink in. Mike's face changed into a soft smile as he put a hand on Baby's left shoulder. Now, he really did need to apologize to her.

"I'm sorry for that. I've just been having trouble believing what you've been saying after all the rumors about you guys. I let a rumor control me over what I was seeing right in front of my eyes. I hope you'll at least understand, even if you don't forgive me."

Baby's eyes widened and they positively gleamed like stars. She threw Mike to the ground under her weight and began to practically smother him in affection. Eventually she left Mike up, which left Mike feeling rather uncomfortable in his own house again. Baby spoke up in a cheerful voice, "So, do you want to cuddle while we want a movie?"

Mike simply shrugged as Baby and him made their way to the couch, laying the blanket overtop both of them as the last of the commercials ran for this section of the movie.


	4. Loss

Mike was shaken rather harshly out of his slumber by a peculiar smell. His eyes opened slowly as his mind was still covered in the haze of sleep. As the smell continued to fill his nostrils, he recognized it as the scent of cooked pork. He turned towards his tiny kitchen, which was essentially a stove, sink, and a fridge in the corner of the living room, to see what was causing it to fill the apartment. There he found a steaming plate of fresh bacon and a small serving of eggs to go along with it, and Baby was standing next to it. Her eyes were shut and her posture gave off a sense of pride. At first, Mike was shocked to see something, or perhaps someone, in his home. Then last night's memory rushed back to him. The two of them had laid on the couch watching a cheesy comedy after Mike's usual show went off for the night, and Mike ended up drifting off to sleep to a quiet song Baby played through her speaker on her chest. Mike smiled to himself, knowing that there wasn't a problem in the world right now, even if one would expect there to be. Baby opened her eyes and looked over to him, and she clapped her hands together.

"Oh! You're awake! I hope you don't mind if I charged myself last night. I had to use your laptop as a power converter."

"Is the laptop's power supply broken?" Mike inquired.

"Nope! Just making sure you didn't mind is all. I also used it a little to learn how to cook breakfast. I wanted to thank you for letting me stay here overnight."

"You're being awfully nice to someone who was afraid of you until last night."

"That doesn't matter now though, does it?" Baby came over to Mike and pushed him over to the table he had set up as a pseudo-dining room.

"Try it, I worked hard on it just for you, you know?"

Mike wasn't about to turn down a hot breakfast, especially since it was a gift. He was sat down by Baby regardless though, and quickly given a fork to eat with. Mike first took a bite of the bacon strips, of which there were three. He was pleasantly surprised that they tasted better than when he cooked them himself on Sundays. Whether that was from Baby just being a better cook or it being a present from a friend was indeterminable. This same reaction was garnered from the eggs as well, which had the taste of light melted cheese mixed with the usually somewhat bland taste of sunny-side-up eggs. Mike's face radiated with joy as he looked at Baby, who was staring intensely at him as he ate.

"This is really good Baby, you learn fast."

Baby simple giggled at him in triumphant self-satisfaction. She sat down on the couch and allowed Mike to finish eating. As he finished however, a knock at his door came. Baby stood up to answer it, but remembered that would be very strange for someone to see an anamatronic from a kid's restaurant answer a door. She went into Mike's bedroom and closed the door while Mike opened the front door. He was greeted by a tall, lanky man wearing wide-rimmed, square framed glasses. The man pushed them up his small nose as Mike greeted him.

"Hey, Mr. Jackson. Something urgent happen?" Mike asked.

"Yes, actually." Jackson replied. "Circus Baby is not in her room, nor anywhere in the building. Since you were the last one there before her disappearance, I came here first to see if you knew what happened."

"Well, sir, I don't know anything about her. I checked on all the robots before leaving, so someone must've gotten in during the early morning after I left."

"I see. Do you mind if I come in and take a look around? Mr. Buckley spent a lot of money on these characters, so he wants me to be sure."

"Of course...come in, please."

Mike grimaced internally as Mr. Jackson entered. He knew that if he went inside his bedroom, he would certainly find Baby. There wasn't any place big enough for her to hide in here. Sure enough, Jackson came back with an annoyed expression. He questioned Mike on why he had taken Circus Baby. Mike insisted that he didn't know it was here, but of course that excuse wasn't good enough. How could anyone just have a large machine _appear_ in their home in the middle of the night, without a sound? Mr. Jackson left Mike's apartment, and no sooner did he did Baby come sprinting out of the back room, her eyes blazing with some powerful emotion.

"Don't let them take me back Mike. I don't want to be left alone in the dark anymore."

Mike's heart was weighted down with sadness like boulders were inside him, each stone pulling his heart into his stomach as he watched Baby go through such mental trauma again. Unfortunately, Mike could do nothing for Baby. The repossession men came and took Baby back to the restaurant, and four hours later, Mike received an email from his employer, Mr. Buckley, that his position was being revoked. They asked him to come down to the business before 10 P.M. to turn in his key and uniform as well as discuss the legal repercussions that Mike would have to face because of his actions. Mike was distraught. How was he supposed to pay for all the lawyers, the legal fees, the fines? How would he find another job after this gets in the paper? Mike considered telling the truth to his boss, but realized that doing that would only get him laughed at at best, at worst locked up in an asylum. Mike begrudgingly gathered and folded his unwashed uniform and laid it on the table near the door. He took his keyring and unhooked the key for his former workplace from the larger loop and placed it in the uniform's breast pocket. He took a deep breath in order to calm himself as he gathered all his needed things and shut the door behind him as he left for his car.

Mike walked to the front desk and was escorted into the on-site manager's office, Mrs. Surry. She had an attorney by her side as Mike sat down in the stuffed chair across from her. Her corporate lawyer handed him some papers and explained that he would be required to either go to court or to pay a damages fee of 468 dollars. Since Mike no longer had a job, he really couldn't afford to do either of these options. In a last ditch effort he tried telling them that the animatronics would start breaking down again if they did this to him. As if to put emphasis on his story, a loud bang came from behind the wall adjacent to the office. The two suits ignored the sound, at least until three more came from behind the wall. Mrs. Surry got up to investigate and told the lawyer to stay with Mike. Ten minutes past, and she hadn't returned. The lawyer told Mike to stay there while he went to go find her. The man left the room, and in the same fashion, didn't return. Mike left his things on her desk and went home after another ten minutes of waiting.


	5. Mis(s)ery

As it turned out, the police came to the business after Mike called about the lawyer and his former employer's disappearance. They were found unconscious in Ballora Gallery, Ballora herself twirling in circles above their forms. At first the business tried to keep what happened under wraps, but eventually, as with all things, word got out. Nobody quite knows how the story got out, since the source from the first reporting station requested to remain anonymous. The most popular and likely theory however, is that the stress caused by the event disturbed Mrs. Surry, who left her position and reported her experience to the nightly news. According to the source, one of the anamatronics was beating on the shared wall between her office and it's stage. When the manager on-site at the time of the incident when to investigate the source, she was grabbed out of the dark by icy cold, powerful hands wrapping around her abdomen. When she didn't return, the corporate lawyer who was with her at the time went to find her, only to have a similar experience. While this story only fueled the popularity of the shop for a time, it eventually led to disaster.

The owner of the restaurant tried to continue on as if the story was just a fluke or a rumor, at first. However, the characters were constantly breaking down and were too dangerous to rent out for private shows, which made a large portion of the profits. Every day he'd send in technicians and mechanics, but they are returned both unsuccessful and maimed in a way that prevented them from working. Due to the constant lawsuits against the company, Mike's charges were dropped in order to save what little money they had to pay off the hospital fees. Sometime later, the business closed down and Mr. Buckley sold off all the corporate assets, including the anamatronics. Freddy and Foxy were bought by a collector who was obsessed with the Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria chain, while Ballora was auctioned off as a gift for a young girl who's parents were extremely wealthy. Baby, however, did not get sold. Either the odd structure of her outer shell or her clown paintjob creeped people out, and she was unfortunately placed in a warehouse for salvaging mechanical parts.

Mike, being the experienced engineer he was, didn't have much trouble finding another job at a recall facility, where they inspected and repairs any errors that may have happened to the variety of house appliances the company sold across the country. He did feel bad about what he happened to the fun-loving, if somewhat unnerving, characters from his old job, but as time passed they faded from his mind. The only reminder he had of them was the tinge of loneliness he has when he came home from the long days of work. The job didn't pay as well, but Mike was still living comfortably in his apartment, just as he had done before and since his time as the nighttime technician.

Luckily for you, dear reader, there is one more part that has yet to be told. One day, the warehouse workers came in to find a tall crate smashed from the inside, and the contents missing. There was a report about the presumably stolen goods on several local news outlets, which unavoidably reached Mike's eyes and ears. He didn't think anything of it though. Why would he? That life was behind him after all, it was over. Mike's surprise must've been unimaginable when he arrived home late in the evening to a faintly familiar synthesized voice greeting him with a playful "Did you miss me, Mikey?"

 **I really enjoyed writing this short story. If you'd like to send a story suggestion, PM me. I enjoy writing and requests help me sharpen my skills. Thanks and goodbye for now.**


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